Their season
2026
their best year
2026 was the year it came together: 4 contests, 0 Grand Championships and 0 category wins, at an average finish in the top 38%.
- 4 contests
- 2 overall top-10s
- 0 category wins
- average top 38%
VanBand BBQ
VanBand BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 9 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2023 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 10th of 32 at the Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITOR SERIES) (2026). Also listed in KCBS results as “Van Band BBQ”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1502
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 25 invitational or side-series contests not counted
Contests
9
in the data
First seen
Jun 9, 2023
latest Jun 12, 2026 · 3 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podium
Overall top-10s
2
22% of 9 contests
Best top-10 run
2
straight overall top-10s, still running
Avg finish
top 53%
overall standings
Best overall
652.5480 / 720
Competitor Series · Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITORS SERIES)
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
22%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 165.37 · weakest Chicken (161.84)
Road miles
207
across 9 mapped stops · furthest 36 mi
Purse competed for
$39K
listed at 7 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
307.29 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to VanBand BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
VanBand BBQ has 2 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 115 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#3,133 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1507
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 5 years before VanBand BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,112 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1506
Fewer contests behind them than VanBand BBQ has cooked, 5 to 9, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#3,141 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1502
They were already cooking in 2017, 6 years before VanBand BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#3,139 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
Level with VanBand BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,130 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1502
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 9 years before VanBand BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,123 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1503
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 10 years before VanBand BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTQue | 6 | 3 | 3 | 50% | ⚔ compare |
| Bad company cookers | 6 | 1 | 5 | 17% | ⚔ compare |
| THE BLAZERS | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% | ⚔ compare |
| BUCKSHOT MALONE'S PIG SHACK | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| Holy Smoke | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| Hogs B Hatin' | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| The BBQ Asylum | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| Big James Kitchen | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 173.7144 | 136.4568 | 161.84 | top 49% |
| Pork Ribs | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 175.4288 | 157.6456 | 165.37 | top 51% |
| Pork | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 170.8228 | 156.5712 | 164.06 | top 60% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By field size and state
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 5 | 0 | top 57% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 44% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITOR SERIES) | 4 | 10 | 0 | top 60% | Jun 12, 2026 |
| Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship | 2 | 48 | 0 | top 44% | Mar 20, 2026 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2026
4 contests
Contests a season
2.3
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
TN
9 of 9 contests
Contests visited
3
2 of them more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
9 entries · 0 wins · 1 call
Opponents faced
273
finished ahead 194 times, behind 276
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20264 milestones
- First call Dr. George Smith BBQ Brawl (COMPETITOR SERIES)
- First overall top-10 Dr. George Smith BBQ Brawl (COMPETITOR SERIES)
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)175.4288 Dr. George Smith BBQ Brawl (COMPETITOR SERIES)
- Most recent contest Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITOR SERIES)
20233 milestones
- First tracked contest Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITORS SERIES)
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score652.5480 Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITORS SERIES)
- Career-best overall score652.5480 Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITORS SERIES)
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 50% | top 38% | 95.7% | 92.4% |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 52% | 92.5% | 88% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 85% | 90.7% | 90.7% |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 70% | 90.6% | 90.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 12, 2026 | Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITOR SERIES) unrated Springfield, TN | 10 / 32 (516.5144) | 10 (173.7144) | 12 (171.9772) | 15 (170.8228) | — |
| May 1, 2026 | Dr. George Smith BBQ Brawl (COMPETITOR SERIES) unrated Murfreesboro, TN | 10 / 23 (509.6688) | 7 (170.8344) | 2 (175.4288) | — | — |
| Mar 20, 2026 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship 🏅 Lebanon, TN | 50 / 125 (314.1484) | 51 (156.5028) | 49 (157.6456) | 22 (169.6800) | — |
| Mar 20, 2026 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship (ONE MEAT RIBS) Lebanon, TN | — | — | 37 (169.6800) | — | — |
| Jun 13, 2025 | Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITOR SERIES) unrated Springfield, TN | 20 / 36 (499.3372) | 14 (171.4516) | 28 (161.6572) | 26 (166.2284) | — |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship 🏅 Lebanon, TN | 48 / 100 (300.4228) | 48 (136.4568) | 38 (163.9660) | 42 (158.8000) | — |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship (ONE MEAT RIBS) Lebanon, TN | — | — | 62 (159.9772) | — | — |
| Jun 7, 2024 | Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITOR SERIES) unrated Springfield, TN | 28 / 33 (489.6340) | 21 (165.1428) | 25 (162.2512) | 29 (162.2400) | — |
| Jun 9, 2023 | Robertson County Fair Assoc. Barbeque Throwdown (COMPETITORS SERIES) unrated Springfield, TN | 21 / 30 (652.5480) | 26 (158.8112) | 17 (165.7256) | 28 (156.5712) | — |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.